Sparkman Named d3hoops.com All-Region

Mar 12, 2012

YORK, PA – York College senior guard April Sparkman (Walkersville, Md./Walkersville) has been named to the d3hoops.com All-Atlantic first-team as announced by the national website dedicated to covering Division III basketball. Sparkman helped lead the Spartans to 24 wins and their second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance.

Players were nominated for these awards by the Sports Information Directors at the various schools. There were 683 players nominated nationwide, a new high. The ballot was then made available to SIDs, who voted for a predetermined number of players in their region.

Sparkman finishes her career as a three-time all-region honoree. Sparkman earned second-team honors as a junior (2009-10) and third team accolades as a sophomore (2008-09) for the Spartans. She returned to the Spartan lineup after missing last season due to a knee injury. Her return to the lineup enabled the Spartans to jump eight wins after going 16-13 in her absence.

Sparkman was a huge part of the Spartans run to their second Sweet 16 in four years. She led the Spartans in scoring at 16.2 points per game. She shot 41.1% from the field, 33.3% from beyond the arc and 71.3% from the charity stripe. She contributed 7.4 rebounds per game while she also handed out 69 assists, blocked 29 shots and collected 31 steals in her 29 games played. She was one of two Spartans to play over 1,000 minutes for the year, finishing with 1,036 minutes played for a team-high 35.7 minutes per game.

Spartan head coach Betsy Witman was thrilled to see her super senior earn the all-region honor.

"April was such a huge part of our success this season," stated Witman. "She did a great job of coming back from injury and was an outstanding leader for our young team. It was a wonderful way for her to end her career. She will go down as one of the best players to ever play at York."

The senior guard finished her career with 1,615 points, good for third on the all-time list. She was a career 44.6% shooter from the field while she converted 35.6% from three. Sparkman drained 75.5% of her free throws including a career-best 84.2% as a sophomore. She accumulated 767 career rebounds while she also had 248 assists, 110 blocked shots and 108 steals in a school-record 110 games.

Sparkman notched a number of career highs this season. She set a new scoring standard with a school-record tying 36 points in the November 30 win at Wesley. She also tied her career-high with four steals in the NCAA tournament game win at Juniata.